Eating Coke candy for breakfast this morning may not have been the greatest idea, but I think the virtue of having something to chew (and decidedly yummy, at that) was the only thing keeping me awake after filming two weddings in two days, and hence alive after my drive back to Ottawa on only a few hours of sleep.
Sheer force of will kept me going through the weekend, though I’m sure that remembering to stay hydrated helped too. I wanted so badly to pull it all off, just to know I could do it. At one point, during a gap of time when the wedding party was taking a break, I went to my car, put the seat back, covered my eyes, and passed out for about 25 minutes. Normally, I can’t sleep except in the most comfortable of conditions, but such was the extent of my exhaustion.
Beginning the second wedding was the most mentally challenging part, knowing I had another 14 hour day ahead of me when I barely got any sleep and my body was starting to feel the sore from running around with so much camera gear strapped to me the previous day.

I was lucky enough to meet Mike, an assistant photographer and cute Italian guy who carries this casual attitude about him that lets people bring their guard down around him. I’ve needed to meet someone like him for so long, just to remember the world isn’t all tragedy and cynicism. I also got to see Preston, and even though I never had a chance to catch up with him, it was good to know he was doing alright.
The final tally for the last two days and nights:
Hours slept: 11
Hours spent filming: 30.5
Number of movie clips taken: 939
Gigs of footage taken: 116.93
Number of pounds of camera gear carried on each day: 19.5
Kilometres driven: 1376.13
Courses eaten at reception dinners: 15
Red pockets received: 1
Cousins seen: 6
Names forgotten: 3
Kitties petted: 1
Hugs given/received: 7
Canon 70–200mm lenses seen: 5
Cantonese words spoken: 29
Years since I last saw Preston: 8
Chocolate covered espresso beans eaten: 10
Chocolate covered strawberries eaten: not nearly enough
Ukuleles strummed: 1
Words exchanged with dad: 34
Kisses from aunts: 1
Number of bite marks on forearm from trying to stay awake during drive home: 4
Painkillers taken: 3
OK for real… did you REALLY keep painstaking track of all these things? ;)
30 hours of filming in 2 days!!! That’s NUTS! I’m assuming you did pre wedding stuff until they closed down the reception?
I didn’t need to keep track, I just have a really good memory for details.
And yeah, I started at 8am to film the preparations (getting dressed, bridal games, etc.) and worked till 11:15pm each day.